


While You Were Healing

by wolfspirals (gracefulally)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Rewrite, Fluff and Humor, Happy Ending, M/M, Sterek Secret Santa 2018, While You Were Sleeping - Freeform, fast paced
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-17 23:56:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16984215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracefulally/pseuds/wolfspirals
Summary: In a world where everyone lived (but not unscathed) after the Hale House Fire, Stiles Stilinski is in love with his schoolmate Cora Hale, who doesn't know his name and who is badly burned in the fire. Working with Derek to find out who set the fire, Stiles finds himself charmed and perhaps falling for another Hale.





	While You Were Healing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anefi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anefi/gifts).



> Okay, so the limit was 5k, right? And though I was told I should just write beyond that, since this is the first "long fic" I've written in a decade, I decided not to go that route. So here is exactly 5k with a little bit of fluff and a lot humor and BAMFness. I hope you'll be kind on me for how fast it moves. I remind you I only had 5,000 words!

Stiles knew all about werewolves. Heck, everyone in this town knew because it was Beacon Hills and had been home to the Hale Pack forever, as far as Stiles knew. Speaking of the Hale Pack, Cora Hale was the ultimate dream girl. Sure she generally loathed other high schoolers, and everyone knew she had her days when she would literally snap her teeth at you, or well maybe that just happened to Stiles. A lot. Like, daily. Truly. Still, he was in love with her and going to marry her, and they were maybe going to have ten babies. The count varied by day, but the point was that Stiles Stilinski was Cora Hale’s future husband, bar none. 

Except he knew nothing about her and she didn’t know his name, and the family was just... creepy. Stiles knew of her older brother but had never actually seen him. He was at college now and her older sister? In medical school -- or was it mortuary school? That would make more sense, considering they owned and operated the most popular funeral home and services in all of Beacon County.

But enough about the Hales, what about Stiles, right? Didn’t everyone want to know about Stiles?

Okay, maybe not, but he was the sheriff’s brilliant yet delinquent son, and he had his ways. Such as knowing the secure channel that the Beacon County Sheriff’s Department used when there was a body or in this case, bodies. He was thrilled and lurking in the woods on the Hale’s property where there had been a fire and the entire house, pretty much, and burned down to the ground. He also overheard on the channels that many people were found severely burned in the basement, which was unreal. He was sneaking up, trying to get a closer look when he tripped over something solid in his path and nearly face-planted on a warm body.

Yelping, Stiles got out his phone for a flashlight and realized it was Cora, a very badly burned Cora Hale. He immediately checked her pulse, found that she was alive, and he started yelling for help, not wanting to move her but also covering her burned body with his jacket to keep her warm on a cold night in December.

The point to this entire story is that Stiles saved Cora Hale’s life -- though she didn’t know because she was in a coma and Stiles went to the hospital after his dad had to physically restrain him from climbing in the back of the ambulance. “You’re not family,” Sheriff Stilinski had said, and Stiles had looked wounded, but he had gone to the hospital anyway and introduced himself as Cora’s boyfriend so he could check in on her.

In all the excitement, though, he fell asleep. Flat out asleep on the chairs outside the Intensive Care Unit, until he was rudely shaken awake by someone and found himself face-to-face with Cora’s older brother, Derek. “Gahh!” Stiles squawked when he saw that handsome but sorrowful face and Stiles slowly tried to get up, fell off the chairs to the floor and then stood.

“They say you found her and you saved her life,” Derek Hale said in a voice roughed up from crying because Stiles could see that his eyes were red. “Our sister is going to be here from Connecticut soon,” Derek explained. “Until then, you’re with me,” Derek said as he took a seat and offered the other chair to Stiles which he looked at before taking.

After a very tense two minutes, because Stiles was making intense eye contact with the clock on the wall, Derek spoke. “I didn’t know Cora had a boyfriend,” he said with little change in his voice. “What’s your name?”

“Stiles, but I--” he replied, but Derek interrupted.

“Thank you, Stiles,” Derek said. “You saved Cora, and I can’t find the words to compensate how I feel.” Another long pause. “I’m glad it was someone she cares about who found her like that.”

Stiles smiled, nervous, and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, she’s my world.” He felt like an idiot, but he was already in the lie so how could he tell the truth to this guy and also not die by his hands?

“At least she has someone to be with her here,” Derek said. “The rest of my family is in the burn unit. They filled up the burn unit. My mother, my uncle, and my pa--cousins.” He stammered, but Stiles got it. Having your entire pack burned alive was a lot to handle. Stiles already knew the Sheriff’s Department didn’t suspect foul play, but Stiles did.

The Hales did not just burn up in their own house without reason.

“Stilinski, what are you doing here?”

The woman’s familiar voice snapped and made Stiles bounce out of his chair to standing with fear. He stared at Deputy Valerie Clarke, dumbstruck.

“I uh--” Stiles tried before Clarke turned to Derek.

“I’m sorry, sir, is he bothering you?” she asked Derek whose brow raised.

Derek looked between them. “No. He is Stiles, Cora’s boyfriend.”

“And he was just leaving for some air before he gives his statement!” Stiles said a little higher and a little louder than he intended and walked past Deputy Clarke, hooked her by the arm before she could say more, and dragged her to the elevators.

“What the hell are you doing, Stiles?” Clarke demanded in a whisper. “Does that girl even know your name?”

“Beside the point, V. Beside the point,” Stiles said in a rush. “I just wanted to make sure she’s okay. I’m not lurking because I have some sick desire to carry her family on like dupes.”

Clarke was the one to pull Stiles onto the elevator and as soon as the doors shut she turned her ire on him. “Well, you’re going to have to keep pretending. The doctors are saying that even with the treatments, all of the family might not survive. That man is going to need more support because the sister isn’t going to be here until tomorrow. There are grounded flights because of the storms, which is what I was going to tell him before you lied and dragged me away!”

“So, okay, _now_ I’m her boyfriend, whatever,” Stiles grumbled. “She might not survive either or ever come out of the coma. It doesn’t matter. She’s never had a boyfriend at school anyway.” He paused. “What else should I know? What should I say? What should I do?” Stiles demanded. “I don’t know what to say to the guy, and I’ve only known him for ten minutes.”

“Do you have a twenty?” Deputy Clarke asked.

Stiles blinked and watched her punch the button for the first floor. “I don’t know. What’s it for?”

Rolling her eyes, Clarke pointed out, “For you to be a boyfriend, you need to buy flowers.”

“Flowers and chocolate,” Stiles amended, which got a scathing look from Clarke. “What? I haven’t eaten since yesterday. Also, please don’t tell my dad I’m here.”

Clarke eyed him before stipulating her agreement. “We’ll see which flowers you pick, first.”

A cactus was what Stiles decided to buy. He didn’t know what Cora could be allergic to or which flowers she necessarily liked, or if she would like some at all, so a cactus. He picked it out and paid, and Clarke stared him down. Stiles rushed to explain, but Clarke doesn’t have time. She needed to meet with the oldest Hale daughter, who was upstairs waiting.

Apparently, chartering planes was in the Hale realm of wealth.

“What on earth is that?” was what Cora’s sister demanded when Stiles walked off the elevator with a giant cactus in a pot in his hands. But Derek, for the first time, was smiling, it was weak, but it was a smile.

“That’s Cora’s boyfriend, and cacti are her favorite plant,” Derek said in a soft tone that Stiles decided must be this guy’s normal voice. Big up to California, dude. That voice was so sweet.

Stiles set the cactus in a chair with a big grin and turned to introduce himself to Cora’s sister, who immediately wheeled him back around and led him into the unit. “Your voice will help her,” she said with a great sniff because apparently, she too had been crying. “I’m Laura, by the way.” She then quietly added, “I didn’t know Cora had a boyfriend.”

“Yeah, people keep saying that,” Stiles muttered. “I’m Stiles.” By then they were at Cora’s isolated bed, and a nurse was rushing to them.

“She needs to hear him,” Laura explained. “She needs to hear him,” she repeated angrily, and Stiles and the nurse were not objecting to a grieving woman.

“Two minutes,” the nurse told them, “and not a second more. Do not touch her.”

The doors opened, and Laura gave Stiles a nudge. He hadn’t seen Cora in full light, yet. The little glass cell she was in was dim, but still, he could see the extensive damage that would have killed a normal human, but Cora wasn’t human.

“Hey,” Stiles said softly to Cora at her bedside. He glanced back at the doors closed and saw that Laura was speaking with the nurse. “Bet you’re wondering who the hell I am and what I’m doing here,” Stiles said quietly. “It’s kind of weird to be in love with someone who doesn’t even know your name, but I promise, I’ll stay here as long as you want, help support Derek and Laura. I… I think they need it, right now, and when you heal, I promise I’ll tell them the truth.” Stiles glanced and saw that the nurse was eying him now as Laura was speaking to Deputy Clarke. “Okay. I have to go, but I hope you get well, Cora. I hope you get out of this and back to your life. I don’t know how fast your healing works, but if you can make it back to us for Christmas in a couple of weeks or the New Year, that would be -- that would be great.” He started to turn but stopped. “Oh, I got you a cactus. Didn’t even know you like them, but your brother… He’s a good guy, I think. I’ll take care of him… and the cactus and your sister. Don’t worry.”

With that, the doors opened, and Stiles stepped out. He barely got a, “Thank you,” out to the nurse when Laura suddenly became hysterical.

“It was the Argents!” she bellowed in Clarke’s face. “Don’t tell me this looks like an electrical fire! You _know_ what happened! Don’t you dare -- _Don’t you dare pretend it’s not arson!_ ”

Stiles blinked as more nurses came and Laura, not unlike her little sister, jerked away from all the attention and stormed out of ICU. Carefully, Stiles followed her out but was stopped by Derek with a hand to his chest.

“Just let her go,” Derek said quietly. “You don’t want to be around for her letting off steam. She’s not going to go after them alone. She’s upset, but she’s not stupid.”

Stiles shook his head. “I don’t understand. Allison Argent is one of the nicest people.”

“She’s still an Argent,” Derek said as his eyes narrowed.

“What does that mean?” Stiles asked. “I mean, I know you’re werewolves, but…”

Derek seemed shocked before he sighed. “Cora told you?”

“No,” Stiles replied. “Pretty easy to figure out, though. Cora’s had her moments on full moons.” Stiles remembered her breaking a locker door off the hinges once on a full moon and another time when he was sure her eyes had flashed a bright yellow when he tried to say hello.

Derek eyed him suspiciously. “Does she know that you know?”

“Oh yeah,” Stiles lied. “Totally.”

Derek frowned, but the conversation ended because a doctor came to speak to Derek. Stiles tried to take the opportunity to take his leave before his dad knew he was here and what he was up to, but a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder and Stiles jumped with a yelp.

“My mother’s coming around,” Derek said. “You stay here with Cora.”

“Right,” Stiles agreed and nodded before taking a seat next to the cactus.

And then Derek was gone, for a long time. Stiles sat there and played games on his phone before trying to get comfortable in different positions on the chairs after he moved the cactus. He eventually realized how hungry he was and walked away to go the vending machine. Stiles put money in and punched for a package of Reese’s Cups. Unaware, he bent down to retrieve them when hands grabbed him, spun him around, and slammed up against the aluminum front of the soda machine.

“Oh, God! Derek, wait! I can explain!” he cried out as Derek shook him in anger. Derek’s eyes flared from light green to glowing blue, and he grew some nasty looking teeth.

“You’re lying!” Derek roared.

Boy did this family have a thing for dramatic gestures, or what?

Stiles licked his lower lip and stared into the wolf’s eyes. “You’re going to have to be more specific,” he said.

“Cora doesn’t have a boyfriend!” Derek continued to shout. “Who the hell are you?!”

“He’s _mine_ ,” a very stern and commanding voice said from behind Derek. Stiles was now actually scared because that was the voice that controlled his entire life. “Put him down, Mr. Hale.”

Stiles took a deep breath and weakly smiled as Derek did as commanded. “Sheriff,” Derek roughly said as he seemed to reel back the wolf that he’d just shown.

Sheriff Stilinski, or Dad as Stiles preferred to call him, eyed the situation and looked directly at Stiles. “What did you do?” he demanded.

“Me?” Stiles said, breathless with fear. “What could I have--?”

“Go home,” the Sheriff commanded.

Stiles deflated. “But Dad--”

“ _Now_.”

Stiles knew that tone and slipped away before briefly coming back to retrieve his candy and then leaving. The drive home was a relief. He turned on the scanner to listen for chatter about the fire and found that it was, indeed, deemed an electrical fire. All he could think about, though, was Laura and Derek’s ire for the Argents.

Deciding to snoop, Stiles hopped on his computer and began doing research, not through Wiki but through his best friend, Scott McCall who was dating Allison Argent and had been since their sophomore year.

“So, she’s said nothing about killing werewolves and burning their house to the ground?”

“Stiles,” Scott began with a roll of his eyes on Skype, “she’s not that kind of person.”

“Yeah, but her dad’s an arms dealer. That has to mean something, right?”

“That he has a lot of guns?”

“Yes, thank you, Scott.”

“Her aunt’s in town though. She went completely off the rails when Allison stole a condom out of her bag the last time she was here.”

“I don’t need to hear more about your sex life than I already do.”

“Dude, no. I’m just saying; maybe, her aunt has something to hide?”

Stiles looked off in thought for an extended moment and then nodded. “Okay, talk to you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Scott said. “Maybe, you could come to school like the rest of us?”

“Hilarious. Call it Senioritis, but I’d much rather be investigating an attempted murder.”

“Leave that up to your dad, Stiles.”

“Nope. They think it’s accidental, but I’ll prove them wrong.”

“Stiles,” Scott’s voice was suddenly sharp and afraid.

“What?”

“There’s someone behind you!”

And before Stiles had a chance to turn around, a hand calmly reached past him and yanked the computer cords from the wall. Stiles screamed and tried to slam his chair back and hit the person, but found himself, instead, turned around.

“Derek? What the--?” Stiles sputtered at the tall, dark, and exceedingly handsome man. Wolfman. Whatever.

Derek towered over Stiles as he spoke. “You believe us,” Derek simply quipped.

“What is with your family and boundaries?!” Stiles demanded. “I didn’t say anything like that. I think Laura is onto something. Mrs. Argent works at the school, and she’s more than a _little_ psychotic looking on a good day, so I’m just giving your sister the benefit of the doubt on an electrical fire.”

“Laura wants your head on a pike,” Derek replied which made Stiles gulp. “I convinced her that you have Cora’s best interest at heart, though. So, she’s rescinded the kill order.”

“Yeah, well, Merry Christmas to me,” Stiles muttered and tried to get up from his chair but Derek shoved him back down, and Stiles glared. “When my dad finds out that you broke in here--”

“He’s not going to find out,” Derek said before backing out of Stiles space. “You’re going to help me.”

“I bought you a cactus. Isn’t that enough?” Stiles whined. He jumped when Derek’s eyes flashed blue.

“Get your coat. It’s cold outside, and you should be wearing more than a t-shirt,” Derek told him.

“Okay, mother wolf,” Stiles quipped and went to pick up a hoodie and jacket that were on the floor. “Where are we going? Why should I go with you?”

“You’re the Sheriff’s son,” Derek said. “You also like my little sister enough to pretend to be her boyfriend. This plan is going to help her. So, obviously, you’re in.”

“What plan is going to help her?” Stiles asked apprehensively.

“You’re going to help me kill Kate Argent.”

“What?!” Stiles demanded. “Who the hell is that? Murder’s not my style, Mr. Eyebrows.”

“She’s Allison’s aunt,” Derek said calmly and handed over a charred cell phone. “She ordered the hit last night.”

Stiles looked at the phone and realized there was a text message shown to him. “Bonfire. Ten. Hope to see you there!” Stiles read. “Yeah sounds real malicious, McGruff.”

“Do you know what happens when there is a total lunar eclipse?” Derek asked sternly.

“Bet you’re going to tell me,” Stiles said as he looked at the phone again.

“Werewolves lose all of their power,” Derek said somberly.

Stiles rocked on his feet and had an epiphany. “Last night there was a total lunar eclipse at ten.”

“Exactly,” Derek said with another flash of his eyes. “That’s why Kate Argent has to die.”

“Can we just chill on the murder for a second and focus on evidence?” Stiles suggested and dropped the phone on his bed.

About then, there were sirens coming up the road. Stiles went to the window and looked out onto the street.

“Scott must have called my dad,” Stiles announced with a grin as he licked his lower lip. He turned back, and Derek was nowhere. “Hey!” Stiles shouted. “I’m not letting you go kill someone!”

Derek was gone, though. Not in the house or outside. Stiles was pretty sure Derek hadn’t even driven there, and he still didn’t know how Derek knew where to go. “Damn it,” Stiles swore to himself and took off his jacket to wait for his dad.

After explaining to his dad that Scott got punked by a large cut-out of Master Chief, which Stiles did have in his closet, which he may have or may not have stolen from a Best Buy in the nearby city, Stiles was given a stern talking to about interrupting investigations and causing his friends to panic over him.

As soon as his dad was gone, Stiles pulled his jacket on over his hoodie and decided that he needed to investigate the Argents, by keeping his distance observing, of course!

No, actually. Stiles Stilinski was never that subtle.

The moment he made it to the Argents’ sprawling house on foot because he’d parked a couple of blocks away, Stiles slipped around the side of the house. The twilight was quickly growing dark, and he couldn’t see into the house from the drawn curtains, but he could hear an argument between a man and woman, which he tossed up to domestic squabbles until he quite clearly heard someone declare that “they are animals and need to be put down!”

Stiles' eyes widened, and he listened closer but the argument had moved out of the room, and he tried to follow it but caught himself before he stepped out in front of the house. The door flew open and yellow light sprang on the circle drive. A blonde woman marched out and over to an SVU as Allison’s dad came out and shouted after her, “Kate!” That’s the moment that Stiles cursed himself for parking two blocks away. After watching her leave, Allison’s dad went back inside, and Stiles decided to go back to his Jeep.

After about an hour of driving aimlessly and listening to the scanner, Stiles gave up and headed home. He walked into the house, got a drink of orange juice, and headed to his room and came to a halt in the middle of taking off his coat. There was a green light flashing on his bed, which Stiles realized was the charred phone from earlier. Checking it, he found another text message.

“Deadhead party. Eight. You know the place,” Stiles read and after a few moments, decided they were either talking about the burned down Hale House or the Hale Funeral Home. He decided on the latter since there was still an investigation at the former and took the phone with him.

When Stiles pulled up to the funeral home, everything was dark, and the Jeep was the only vehicle in the lot. He turned off his headlights before going to look around outside. Not until Stiles got to the back of the funeral home did he realize there was a light on in the basement. He tried the back door, and it was unlocked, but the door was squeaky. He tensed and decided to close it slowly before moving on, but blanched when he heard someone coming up the stairs. Stiles hid behind a large potted planted and held his breath. He softly swallowed when he heard someone lock the back door and go back down the stairs.

That’s when he heard Derek yell in pain.

Honestly, he couldn’t be sure it was Derek, but after having the wolf version of the other man in his face, he was pretty sure it was Derek and that they were doing something in the basement. Stiles came out from hiding and searched for any weapon that he could find as he listened to more shouts of anguished pain. Finding a poker by a cold, dusty fireplace, he picked it up along with an ash shovel and started down the stairs.

“Doesn’t it hurt to know that your eyes are the reason why we even came to this town?” a woman’s voice said. “I heard your mommy’s awake, did you tell her, yet, hmm?”

Stiles did not like her voice. If someone were to have an evil voice, that's how it would sound. When Stiles made it to the crypt, he felt the fear coursing through him as Derek shouted again and again. What the hell were they doing to him?

All the lights were on in crypt, and it was a winding passage of tunnels. Stiles had been here before as a job shadowing gig when he was in junior high and met Mrs. Hale. It had been one of the weirdest ways to get a glimpse at his dear Cora’s life.

Then, All Time Low blasted through the crypt and Stiles scrambled to silence his phone. Realizing it was Scott, he sent off a message: “911 funeral home.” Right then a hand grabbed him, and Stiles stabbed behind him with all the strength he had. The man who had caught him howled as the poker went into his abdomen. Next thing Stiles knew, his head hurt, and he was on the ground.

“Called the cavalry,” Stiles happily said as he looked up to see two of Kate glaring at him. “Let him go, and I may be able to convince the Sheriff to not light you on fire, too!”

“Stiles,” he heard Derek say somewhere, hoarse and strained from all the yelling and possible torture. “Stiles, no!”

The two Kates knocked him out.

Stiles awoke in the back of a vehicle, on the floor, and found himself restrained with his hands behind his back and legs tied as the vehicle bumped along. He coughed because of the dirty rag in his mouth and looked around, finding himself alone with one lackey watching him and no Derek.

Damn it. No one ever gave Stiles credit for being a badass.

Rolling around on the floor of what he assumed was a van, he got the gag off and coughed and spit until he found his voice. “Come on; this is stupid. My dad’s the sheriff. You’re running. He’s going to find you. You’ll all go away forever. He might even throw a phone book at you if you do enough damage, and I mean that’s a lot for--”

“Shut up,” said the lackey as he leaned over and yanked Stiles’ gag back into place.

“Rude!” Stiles shouted from behind the gag, but it came out as just a muffled yell.

Stiles wanted to repeat it when they came to an abrupt stop, and he got thrown against the wall of the van. The shift made him dizzy, and he was pretty sure he had a concussion.

Then, there were sudden pops outside, gunfire he realized and the unmistakable roar of a werewolf. Silence followed the roar, and the lackey grabbed Stiles and pulled out a gun as they tensely waited.

First, there was the sound of glass smashing from the front of the van, followed by a man’s yell. Then, the van rocked once as something substantial landed on the roof, twice as something else landed on the roof. Stiles then felt the van start rock then suddenly he was flying because the van was rolling onto its side.

Stiles yelped when he slammed against the seating where the lackey had been holding him. He saw the gun had been knocked free and started crawling for it. The van’s side door was then ripped open and off the hinges. Derek dropped into the van in humanoid wolf form into a crouch. In front of him landed a fully transformed wolf.

Stiles was pretty sure he was losing his shit, right now.

The wolf dove past Stiles, and he heard the lackey scream as the wolf tore into him. Derek was then yanking his claws through Stiles’ restraints, and finally, he could move his feet and hands. He reached for the gun still lying there.

“No,” Derek said as he transformed back into a human. “That’s what they would want.”

Stiles yanked off his gag and rolled his eyes. “I would just like some protection until my dad gets here,” he said. “It’s been a day. By the way, are you all right?” He realized Derek was bleeding from more than one bullet wound.

“Kate got me,” Derek said with a pant as he sat down. “My sister is going after her; I’ll be fine.”

About then, the wolf leaped out of the van and disappeared. Stiles crawled over to Derek and looked at the black blood coming from the wounds. “That does not look good, dude.”

“Yeah, but you do,” Derek replied with a slow glance to Stiles. “It’s Wolfsbane. Like I said, I’ll be fine once Laura catches Kate.”

“The wolf?” Stiles said in confusion, realizing that werewolves could become full wolves. “And did you just hit on me or do I seriously need to get this concussion looked at?”

“Laura was the wolf,” Derek said with a nod. “And you should get it looked at, but also, I hit on you.”

“That would be so hot if you weren’t leaking black blood all over the place,” Stiles pointed out.

Derek laughed, strained and Stiles realized that he had a burn on the part of his side that was showing.

“What did they do to you?” Stiles asked as he finally managed to get to his feet. He set the gun down and went to Derek to help him up and, dude, the guy was massive.

“You don’t want to know,” Derek said, seemingly avoiding Stiles’ gaze.

“I do want to know,” Stiles interjected. “If I kiss you will you tell me?” he chirped.

“Shouldn’t do that with a concussion,” Derek muttered.

“What, kiss?”

“No, try to bargain. You’re terrible at it.”

Stiles took that as an okay to lay one on Derek. He kissed Derek’s cheek first, laughed when Derek grumbled, and repeated the gesture, this time on the lips as they leaned against the inside of the van.

“How about I tell you what happened when Cora wakes up, and you tell her you pretended to be her boyfriend?” Derek asked with a small smile.

Stiles was wounded. Was his kiss that bad?

“She’s going to hit me,” Stiles said.

“Yeah,” Derek said with a chuckle, “and she’ll aim for the balls.”

They stayed there, leaning and kissing until sirens arrived in the distance and Stiles decided that he had fallen for the right Hale on his second try.

“So, you’re okay with me finding you _and_ your little sister attractive?” Stiles eventually asked, as they stood at the side of Cora’s hospital bed, waiting for her to wake up, about a week after the mess with Kate, who was still at large.

Derek rolled his eyes at the same time that Cora’s voice muttered, “I don’t have a little sister.”

Springing to her aid, Derek looked like he might cry. Stiles went to get the nurses, and when he arrived back in the room, Cora was sitting up.

“So, when did you fall for the dork from my high school?” she asked with a squint.

Derek smiled at her and looked to Stiles. “It’s a long story, but it was while you were healing.”


End file.
